Very unique circumstances got the Jets into cap trouble in 2011-2012. As long as you don't sign Santonio Holmes to a 5 year $45 million contract that pays him $3 million in year one, or sign your QB who you just actively tried to replace to a contract extension, or restructure 2 declining vets like Scott and Pace to save a few million while making it impossible to cut them next year, you'll be fine.

The Jets are sitting on a ton of cap room, and don't have this amazing pipeline of young talent to resign. They'll be fine if they overpay DRC a few million.

EXACTLY!

People act like if you pay a good, young player slightly more than what some combination of PFF metrics/FA rankings lists suggest he should get, all of the sudden you'll be in horrible cap shape.

Really surprised Idzik didn't go enough above what the Giants got DRC for to land him. That was a pretty reasonably contract. Got to trust his direction I guess, this team is definitely not in win now mode though.

I don't know if Idzik is a drafting genius, but that's got to be his plan. Not a whole lot of targets left.

Guessing there's a chance they bring Cro back now - which honestly I was fine with them doing at the beginning of the offseason so there's really no reason for that to change.

Clemons could be someone to go after at safety but I'm guessing that doesn't happen. Sidney Rice rumors already got thrown out earlier today and Miles Austin is still available. Jermichael Finley and Ed Dickson too at TE.

Then obviously there's the whole veteran quarterback issue. They'll be able to spend some money, but it looks like the intent is really going to be just to get up to the minimum spending threshold at this point unless there's a big trade in the works.

Ultimately the team is definitely not looking to make a run this season. Which, given the makeup of the roster and the fact that teams who win free agency don't often win Super Bowls. Hopefully Idzik does a good job as we watch him slowly turn over the roster piece by piece. Looks like it'll be a slow, methodical attempt at a rebuild. Which is frankly intelligent, but will be terrible if Idzik drafts poorly. Surprised that he was able to get Woody's buy in on that.

It's pretty obvious Idzik is still in rebuild mode. We have a pretty brutal schedule this season, so I'm not expecting us to finish .500. My gut feeling is that we'll have a new coach by next year's draft.

__________________

Penn State University - Detroit Red Wings - New York Jets - Red Bull New York - Fulham FC

I'd guess that DRC wanted to play for NYG - so I wouldn't blame Idzik for not upping the money - DRC probably took less to go to NYG.

But it's fair to criticize Idzik for not getting any CB. He's not having a good FA period. And there really aren't any moves that he can make to get him back into it.

Maybe Clemons and bringing back Cro.

But I have a bad feeling he's going to be forced to make a move now. And end up paying Knowshon or osmething. Ugh.

The NY Daily News reports that Ryan is "pissed" that the Jets missed out on DRC and other quality CB's during FA. With your thoughts on Idzik possibly being forced to make a move now, there is the idea out there that he may have to trade for a CB now. If the Jets have to trade away picks to get a CB, I will be "pissed"!

Location: "Im against Picketing, but I don't know how to show it"-Mitch Hedberg

Posts: 4,265

Reputation: 267766

Yeah, I thought Idzik was being prudent and DRC being left at the tail end of free agency would be a bargain, which he was, for the giants. I get being fiscally responsible by hoarding cap room like this as your secondary looks really weak makes no sense. If he doesn't resign Cro, I truly don't get it at all. Even if he does resign Cro, I don't get it at all.

Last year there were several teams 20-30 mil below the cap at this point and they all made it just fine without dishing out crazy contracts. Many ways to manipulate the cap, and for a guru like Idzik, I doubt it will be much of an issue. Really would like to see a Wilk extension though, and it would kind of be rewarding and well deserved for a guy like Kerley to get one.

Hopefully people aren't falling for the Manish reports though. He's been down on Idzik since he first walked in the building. Not sure if something happened there or the NYDN has an agenda to set simply because Idzik has closed house. If people are wondering, Manish has been wrong on every single rumor he has drum up this off-season about our interest in a FA (Decker and DRC rumors didn't start until they got in the building). It's pretty hilarious actually. I saw not too long ago he was so pathetic as to say a "friend" of Rex told him he was unhappy with how the off-season has gone. Don't take his word for how people feel in the building. Completely different ship than in years past. Haven't heard a single one of the Jets players clamoring for these FAs that everyone else is (much like other team's players are doing), yet they all celebrate when one of their own gets a contract. Have to assume perception of what's going on is far different within their walls.

But seriously, our fans seem to be getting awfully desperate. No one was even talking about DRC a week ago, and now people were clinging to him as the last hope. He's really not that good. Looking at that contract the Giants gave him, it seems to be structured pretty poorly, unless they expect him to be playing well for the next few years (which, if anyone that uses PFF's grades would point out, is highly unlikely, as he's only had one good season in his career).

A guy I would like to bring in is Dimitri Patterson, if we don't bring back Cro (with the way Rex talked about him upon release, it didn't really sound like he even wanted him back). He seems to have the requisite skills to play man, so long as he stays healthy. If we do bring in a corner at all the rest of FA, I would say that safely puts us out of the 1st/2nd round CB market, simply because of how many CBs we will have on the roster at that point.

It's pretty obvious Idzik is still in rebuild mode. We have a pretty brutal schedule this season, so I'm not expecting us to finish .500. My gut feeling is that we'll have a new coach by next year's draft.

This sums up my feelings pretty nicely. I still like Ryan, so hopefully he has a good year and sticks around. If not

If I can twist it in a strange way, the way this offseason has gone it's kind of good in that we'll be able to tell how well Ryan is really able to scheme defensively. Obviously the team has been good defensively since he got here - but that was with a ton being invested in the defense. It's not like there's no talent this year - two first round DL, a first round DE/OLB, two first round corners, a couple of legit NT's, and some decent ILB's (though Harris has lost a step). If Rex can work with that, they're better off making investments primarily on offense early and finding some mid-late round defenders for the coaching staff to mold and eventually develop into starters. After his track record in Baltimore I expected a lot of that but we haven't really seen it here - early investments have been in defense and the offense has really suffered. And it's not like the corners in Baltimore were elite towards the end either.

Also, TTGS is dead on about Mehta. Seems like the guy's just making things up because he doesn't have his leaks any more, and pissed about it.

Location: "Im against Picketing, but I don't know how to show it"-Mitch Hedberg

Posts: 4,265

Reputation: 267766

My biggest issue with Idzik is not that he hasn't gone out and made big splashes, but that I don't like when a team cuts a productive player to save money and then not use the money. Antonio cromartie wasn't worth the 9+mil that he was making, but if that money is just going back into woody johnson's pocket, whats the point? He clearly is better than most of the depth on the roster, and seems to want to come back. He was disappointing last year but still looked to be one of the better corners on the roster. I know there is still time to bring in some lower cost guys that can still provide improvement , but I feel like there were several guys that would have fit the roster for reasonable money that he basically ignored.

As a fan, I care about my team's money only as it relates to the on field product. With not many blue chip guys looking for new contracts soon, i feel like there were incremental improvements that could have been made this offseason that wouldn't be unreasonable monetarily. Im not completley against idzik, but it has been a bit discouraging.

Personally, I thought in limited starting time, Walls looked quite a bit better than Cro. But then again, I also thought Allen was quite a bit better than Reed, so Rex and I must not be on the same page.

As for the drafting derza referred to, I honestly think that falls more on Tannenbaum. The GM's job is to find the best possible talent for what the coach is selling, and the coach's job is to push them to be the best they can be. Rex on several occasions let out that certain players weren't who he wanted during that era, and I remember a time when we were about to play the Chargers and Rex even quipped that he would go far with the talent they had on their roster, which I kind of felt was a shot at the scouting department/Tannenbaum. There was simply a lot of bad picks made. Very rarely did they not have to trade up to get a good one. All these crazy sources from the NYDN aside, if idzik gets the right talent in there, I'm sure Rex won't be complaining one bit, despite what outsiders may perceive as deficiencies at certain positions.

I think they're trying to create a strong, competitive culture around there. Seems like things are becoming more like a family. That's why people should probably temper their expectations on us going after the me-first guys like DeSean Jackson.

Whoo! Brought back Willie Colon on a one-year deal. Good stuff. He was a great veteran presence both in the locker room and dealing with the media. Big supporter of Rex as well. Have some continuity there on the line is important. He'll also be a good tutor for our young OL and the new OL we will undoubtedly draft.

Also, seems as though we restructured Goodson's contract, so we saved like half a mil. Hilarious, considering all the cap we have. It's almost like Idzik did that just to stick it to all the people wanting him to spend lol. It also suggests that Goodson will be sticking around, at least until we bring in some other RB through FA or the draft.

Heard we're looking to trade for Johnathan Joseph? Not sure how much there is to that rumor. His cap hit is as big as Cro's would've been, so that sort of seems unlikely to me. However, healthy, I would say he's a better fit as a #1 than Cro. More physicality to his game. Always was a fan of his coming out of SoCar. We'll see.

I find Jets trying to trade Sanchez hilarious. No team wants his contract because it still exists which means Sanchez has power to control money. Teams will wait until him being released so they can find a way to control money on Sanchez with new contract. Stop fiddling around and cut him already.

1st for Jackson. 2nd for Johnson. 3rd for Joseph. With 9 draft picks left (4 quality picks), Idzik can continue rebuilding the core for long term such as replacements for Ferguson, Mangold, Harris and several players.

Trading for Joseph would be a terrific move. But at the same time that would be pretty much admitting he messed up, and will cost a pick whereas Davis/DRC/Verner wouldn't have.

You have a link?

Only thing is that why would the Texans trade him?

It was one of the Jets media people, who said they got word from a source, so... I wouldn't look too much into it until we hear it happens or it doesn't. A more likely scenario in my mind is that Joseph gets cut and we go after him, but I imagine we may give up a 5th or so for him.

I wouldn't characterize it as them messing up, though. Things don't work out perfectly as they planned it for any team. It's really only thought of as a panic move if you want to spin it that way (this is, of course, if this is even true). In all reality, they're not going to keep all of their 11 or 12 draft picks, or at least those guys won't all make the roster, so they have picks to spare. As for the CB market, in my mind, there weren't many viable options in the first place, and the only ones they clearly showed interest in were DRC (who was asking for far too much in relation to his skill level) and Vontae (who apparently was using the Jets as leverage to get a better contract with the Colts, who he was planning to stay with the entire time). What it (or any trade for a CB) would admit, if it isn't apparent to people already, is that he's trying to make this work with Rex, and would clearly be trying to set him up for success on paper, rather than just trusting in the growth of the drafted players.